


But First, Coffee

by DracoTerrae



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Coffee Shops, F/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-14 04:32:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17501621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DracoTerrae/pseuds/DracoTerrae
Summary: Bellamy is running late for an exam, but coffee is always a must. Thank goodness for cute and helpful baristas.Literally just one of over a thousand coffee shop meet-cutes. Drabble.





	But First, Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> Title inspiration from a coffee mug my college roommate got me.

“Hey, can I get…something with coffee, but that’s also really quick?”

The blonde behind the counter chuckled.  “How does a regular coffee sound?”

Bellamy could have hit himself in the head with how stupid he was being. He was so burnt out, but he just had to get through this afternoon and then he could relax for the weekend.  “Yeah, that’d be great. Medium, please.”

“Big exam today?” the barista asked with a charming smile, punching in numbers on the register.  He heard the campus bell tower ring out the hour. 

“Yeah, in about fifteen minutes.  Can I actually get three more of those? I told my friends I’d bring them some if I stopped here.”

“Of course!  That’ll be $8.73.  Just swipe your card.”  The other student worker began pouring the coffees and putting them into a travel tray.  “Debit or credit?”         

“Debit,” Bellamy replied automatically, before swiping his card and waiting.  “Uh, it’s not going through.”

A wrinkle formed on the cute blonde’s forehead.  “Really?  It’s been working all morning.”  She hit a few buttons on the register.  “Okay. Try again.”

He did.  Still nothing.  It was going to take him at least ten minutes to get across campus, trying to balance a tray of coffees while doing it was definitely going to make it more difficult.  He saw his hand visible shaking as it held his card.  “Uh, maybe I have cash.”  He fumbled for his wallet and watched as it tumbled to the ground.

When he stood up after retrieving it, the blonde was studying him intently.  He opened it to find only, “Two dollars.  I ugh,” he checked his phone as it chimed in his hand, that bell tower was always three minutes late, why didn’t he think of that?  “Dr. Griffin is going to kill me,” he muttered already imagining the death glare she was going to give him for walking in as class started, or worse, late.

“Did you say Dr. Griffin?” the cashier’s eyes were wide.

“Yeah…”

“Human Anatomy?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Let’s go, Harper.  Pedal to the medal, I need those coffees!” she shouted over her shoulder.  Seconds later she was pushing the tray across the counter.  “Don’t worry about paying.  I’ll work it out.  Run.  Don’t be late.”

“Wait, what?”

"Just go,” she insisted.  “I’ll cover it.  It’ll be fine.”

Bellamy was flabbergasted, but didn’t know what else to do.  His own panic was mirrored back to him in the eyes of the student worker. He made a note, to come back after his exam to thank her and hopefully get money from Miller to pay her back.  At least that’s what he reasoned out as he sprinted as fast as he dared to get to the science building on time.

 

**

 

Ten dollars firmly in his pocket, he returned to the café, looking around for the blonde from earlier.  At first he thought he had missed her because she wasn’t behind the counter. But then he spotted her sitting at one of the tables, looking out the window with an open notebook.

“Uh, hi,” he started awkwardly as he approached her table.

She glanced up startled, but her faced softened into a smile when she saw him.  “How’d the exam go?  Did you make it on time?”

He laughed.  “Barely.  I got the glare for walking in a minute before class started, but at least I wasn’t shut out of the room for the exam.”

“Yeah, she’d definitely do that.”

“I take it you’ve had Dr. Griffin before?”

It was her turn to laugh.  “Yeah, for about twenty-one years.  She’s my mom.”

Bellamy choked on air.  “I, uh, sorry.  Not sorry that she’s your mom!  Sorry that you may have overheard me muttering some things earlier. Or—” he was so tongue-tied in front of the cute girl that he was pretty sure he’d just insulted; he could practically taste the foot he had just put in his mouth with that incomprehensible comment.

Luckily the girl just laughed more heartily.  “No worries.  It just means I intimately know how high her standards are and what she demands from people.  I grew up under the mantra, if you’re not at least ten minutes early, you’re late.  And I didn’t want an innocent student on the receiving end of her tardiness wrath, especially on an exam day.”

“Yeah, thanks for that. Speaking of which, here,” he held out a ten-dollar bill from his pocket.

“Don’t worry about it,” she shook her head.  “It was my good Samaritan act of the day.”

“I insist.”

She tilted her head to the side, staring at him like she was just calculating how much he was going to push it.  He just raised an eyebrow and didn’t retract his hand.  With a small smile, she shook her head and took the money from him. 

“But since this is over the amount you spent, it means I’m going to have to repay you the difference.  What do you say about me buying you a coffee, or maybe a muffin or something since I know you just had some earlier?”

Bellamy was usually the one who asked someone out for coffee, so he wasn’t entirely prepared to be on the receiving end.  But some instinct told him that if he didn’t take up this offer, he was going to regret it.  “Yeah, a muffin sounds great actually,” he smiled.

She returned it with the brightening of her own, standing with a motion to follow her over to the café.  “I’m Clarke, by the way.”

“Bellamy,” he returned.  And yeah, he could already tell this was going to be a good way to start is weekend.

**Author's Note:**

> I had the sudden realization the other day, that if I didn’t publish something soon (February 4th) it was literally going to be an entire year since I last published, or finished really, something that I wrote for fun. I had seen this story on Pinterest (at least I’m 95% sure it was Pinterest) and of course my mind immediately made it into a Bellarke fanfic because what else would I do? So one day when I was stressing from thesis, I decided to take a break and write something for fun. And this little drabble appeared. Literally the shortest story I’ve ever written, but hey, I finished something I wrote for fun!
> 
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated! Also, you can find me on [Tumblr](https://dracoterrae9099.tumblr.com/) if you're interested!


End file.
